Neediest Families Fund: 'The pawn shop is like our support system'

NEW BEDFORD — Rhonda Powers always looks forward to the first of the month.

JONATHAN DARLING

NEW BEDFORD — Rhonda Powers always looks forward to the first of the month.

When the calendar turns, her Supplemental Security Income and welfare money arrives. It allows her to pay the rent, utilities and make an important trip downtown to Fall River Pawn Brokers.

"The pawn shop is like our support system," Powers said. "I'll pawn our DVD player and our movies and anything I can. If it's near the end of the month, my son will even let me pawn his XBox."

After her checks come in, she goes back to the pawn shop to retrieve her belongings.

"I never sell them," she said. "Those belong to us. We just need a little extra to get by until the first of the month."

Powers lives with her 16-year-old son, Rui, and her 22-year-old son, Eric, who is mentally disabled and receives help from the state Department of Developmental Services. She receives less than $1,100 a month from SSI and welfare and, after rent and medical expenses, there is hardly anything left for food.

So she pawns her items, meets her home health aide from Community Connections and walks to the grocery store to get some food.

"It's been a tough year," Powers said.

It's been more than a tough year for Powers; it's been a tough life.

She speaks openly about the drug problems in her past. She's made mistakes and bad decisions in her life but is finding the strength to move forward.

She had gastric bypass surgery about five years ago and wasn't ready for the morphine she was given to manage the pain after the procedure. She became hooked and lived the life of an addict, which all changed one day when her son asked for something to eat.

"He asked me for a dollar so he could go buy a burger," Powers recalled. "That's when it hit me. I had money to go out and buy drugs but didn't have a dollar to give him to go get a burger. That's when I knew I needed help."

She went to a local methadone clinic, where she received physical and emotional therapy. Today, she and her health aide speak proudly about her 2½ years of being clean and their renewed focus on having a better life.

A large plastic container on the small table in the living room holds the many prescription bottles she takes for her mental problems and her son for his disability. As much as the medication is helping her feel better, it's the friendship with her Community Connections aide that has her on the road back.

"I think she's like God's blessing," Powers said of her aide. "She's like my best friend."

"She's come so far since I met her," said her aide, who has been making daily visits for the past year. "When I started, she wouldn't even look at me. I had to cut through those tapes just to get to know her. She was so depressed and miserable. Now, she's seeing her doctors and is just so full of love for her family. It helps me knowing that she's doing so much better."

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.